55 Gallon tank cloudy

[thetmaxx]

This has been going on for sometime now, and I've posted here once before, about it, and tried to get rid of it with some of your help, but it has remained cloudy.

When I say quite sometime, I think it's on 5-6 Months now. And I think it started after I got my 40watt Light Hood. I don't think this 40 watt hood is an abundance of light, that would cause this.

What it is exactly... A white apearing cloudiness, but during water changes which are perfromed every week, in 25% volumes, water is drained into a white bucket, and instantly you can see the water is really green. After a water change, it looks better, but is fully back in a week's time.

What I have tried... leaving the lights off. a week of no light, (not covering the tank up) makes a huge difference!! however, my amazon sword doesn't do too well, so I only did this twice, and my sword is still recovering.
I've also tried to buy a phosphate test kit, but none of the LFS's carry them, not even Capitol Aquarium, which is like the biggest aquarium store in SAC. So just to try, I put a Phosphate removing pad in the Whisper HOB filter, had no effect.

I change my filters reqularly, and lightly rinse my bio sponge, filter media thingy. One thing I have noticed is dark green spot algae growing on a lot of stuff in the tank. my otto doesn't get it, and my CAE's are too big for algae anymore. I recently added a bristlenosed pleco to the tank on monday, and haven't seen a differnce. The thinking here was that maybe the algae on the walls is releasing algae spores into the water? will one bristle nose pleco clean it?

Current water perameters:
nitrate - 30ppm
nitrite - 0ppm
hardness - 120ppm
alkalinity - 100ppm
pH - 7.2
ammonia - 0ppm
temp- 76F

current inhabitants:
6 - corydoras
2- CAE
1 - SAE
2 - Columbian tetras
2- cherry barbs
1- tiger barb
1-otto
1-bristlenose pleco

I can't figure this being a huge over feeding problem, as the corys go crazy all day cleaning up what food hasn't been eaten by everyone else. and i vacuum the gravel every weekend. below are 2 pics, one is when i got the light, notice the clarity, and the other is how it looks now, although the photo looks better than the tank (my dig. camera has a tendancy to under expose everything!)

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[Devilishturtles]

Sorry to hear about the ongoing problem. Sounds like you have tried alot of things, but one thing you didn't try, was blacking out the tank. A complete blackout is only effective if no light gets in, at all. So keeping your lights off for a few days, but not covering the tank, is essentially pointless while trying to combat the problem. I don't know much about how swords can take lighting, but knowing that they thrive better in a higher light condition, I would try and remove it to a different tank. A QT if possible, or a bucket even.

Do a water change. Then, get something dark (a blanket would be best) and cover the tank making sure no light gets in. Leave it covered completely, no feeding, no peeking, no anything for 3-4 days. As soon as you take the cover off, do a hefty water change to remove the dead algae. After that, keeping low nutrients in your tank, it should stay away.

Here is a link to another thread about green water problems, that you might want to read.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/viewtopic.php?t=72731

HTH

 

[rollin_22]

i agree with devilish...... also if that didnt work, i love activated carbon.... many peopl will tell you that it doesnt help, but in my experience, it does..... i have had the same problem in the past, and i used some carbon and it got alot better, then i did a black out, and it went away completly... hth

 

[Hyrules]

White cloud... it happened 2 times in my 15 gallon generally after water change. The only solution i had : leave it be. My tank got over the cloudness by itself over time. It took about 2 weeks to get over it. I just leave it as it is.

 

[Zagz]

Do you have another tank you can move your plants to while you do a black out? I agree the black out is the best method.

 

[thetmaxx]

the only tank i have is a BW 10 gallon, that is partially cycled. but i wouldnt know if salt is ok for the plant. I have plenty of buckets lying around, if it will be ok it one of those for a week. this was one of those plants that is in the gel at the petstore. so it must be pretty hardy to withstand that, and the bad times in my tank. lighting is definatly reduced due to the cloudiness.

on the activated carbon... I've used it in this tank since forever and change it monthly with the filter pad, but recently i removed it , as i'm treating a tetra with melafix, and pima fix, and have noticed it gets worse in between water changes, faster. also, when i pulled out the brand new white filter pads, they are already green tinted.

so essentially, it sounds like i've already corrected the cause, but need to blackout in order to clean up the mess that was created.

with all the algae dying off in 4 days, will my algae eaters be at a loss for food? should i supplement them with a algae wafer after the blackout?

Thanks for the help...

 

[rich311k]

Dont worry about the plants, they can take the blackout. When this is over my first suggestion would be to add some phosphorous. Fleet enema the generic store version is cheap and will last.

 

[thetmaxx]

i've heard that phosphorus would cause excessive algae growth. would i be feeding the algae, and risk it coming back? also having the plant, shouldn't it be keeping/using a lot of phosphorus out of the water. i would think having real plants would keep a tank in better balance.

 

[rich311k]

You nitrates are 30 you need phosphorous of lets say2 to help the plants use all that N and out compete the algae. You could add some hornwort and anacharis to help balance things out as well. They are N using machines.

 

[thetmaxx]

*Update*

The tank has been blacked out for 4 days now. I decided to peek today, and see if it did any good. I flipped the light on, and it is about 50% clearer. Unbeleivable!! It didn't even look like it had done anything!! My sword probably wont make it much longer without light, all the leaves are yellow.

I hope by saturday it clears up and stays that way. Thank you all for your help, and I will post another update on Saturday, hopefully with a picture of a nice clear tank!!

Also the Pleco I had put in the tank just a week ago, has already passed. Before I went to cover the tank, I was looking for him in the foggy haze, and found him, colorless and lifeless. I cannot see any signs of a specific cause of death. Maybe the water conditions, being so cloudy? Maybe he was already sick from PETCO. Not sure, but I wont try another one until I get the tank cleaned up and it remains that way.

 

[thetmaxx]

9 days, and I'm pretty sure this isn't working. The tank is still covered, doesn't get any light, and the cloudiness has come t a minimum, but not all the way gone.

I'm thinking something else needs to happen here... Should I do a water change, and proceed with the lights out?

Thanks...

 

[Devilishturtles]

Yes...I would. A water change is a must anyways, due to the dying algae that is in your tank. It will pollute your water.

The fact that it is going away is a good sign, but the fact that it isn't gone yet is not. I'm thinking that you have a nutrient imbalance in your tank somewhere. A phosphate reading would really help.

 

[thetmaxx]

i know, i need to get the phosphate reading, but none of the lfs have them, and i keep running out of money to order on online... i need to just get rid of the tank!! arg...

 

[thetmaxx]

I did a 20/55 gallon water change, and I've switched from Prime dechlorinator to API's Dechlorinator. it has aloe, and sounds like it will work much better. one concern i had was that the prime was not providing the proper slime coat. so i'll see how stress coat works.

anyways, after the water change, i changed the phosphate removing filter pad (sits in front of my regular activated carbon filter sack) and after about 2 hours i fliped the light on, and whoa, it is almost clear!! it's barely cloudy, so i think after another weekly water change it will eventually clear right up.

i'm pretty sure the problem was from not gravel vac'ing enough, I had heard before somewhere that you werent supposed to do it too often because you could suck out all the bacteria in the gravel, and cause the tank to cycle. but before i covered it, i did vaccum the gravel heavily and pulled out 20 gallons of black water. when i did my cleaning yesterday, 20 more gallons of black water, so evidently i need to clean the gravel more often!

 

[Devilishturtles]

I'm glad things seem to be better, thetmaxx. I was at a loss as to what you problem could be, but seems like it is under control now. Wooo.

 

[BillD]

I really need to say something here. The myth of not vacuuming your gravel for fear of removing bacteria, needs to be disputed. The bacteria firmly attaches to the gravel. vacuuming it will not remove it. If it were possible for the vacuum to remove the bacteria from the gravel, how would it ever stay attached to the media in the filter, where the flow is higher? In addition, your filter is doing most, if not all of the real work. In this particular case, if the water coming out from the vacuuming was black, it obviously needed to be done. In a case like this, and I had one last week, I would change at least 50% of the water daily, until it was clear. In my tank I changed 80%, with heavy gravel vacuuming.
As for the tank in the picture, I would suggest the addition of more plants, such as vals along the back and sides, possibly some hornwort floating, to use up the nutrients.

 

[thetmaxx]

That's so true, if vacuuming could suck up the bacteria, they'd never be able to hang on in the filter...

I would love to get more plants, but I always have a hard time commiting to buying them at the LFS. I've been looking at some of the low light/easy one on some of the plant sites, but i have a commitment problem with adding things to my tank, thats why it looks so empty. i love how others look, but I just don't know how to do it. I dont want to over stock with the plants and make it harder to clean.

 

[Sebastian83]

If you still continue having problems with green water try using a diatom filter.
I have a Vortex XL Diatom Filter that I use every couple months to make my 90 gallon tank crystal clear. Its so powerful it will remove the algae from the water. It ussually only take 2 hours to make your tank look really clear, but I ussually run it for 5-6 hours at a time (its not for continuous use). They are a bit pricey though, but its a quick fix.


http://www.aquariumguys.com/diatomfilter.html

 

[Devilishturtles]

Or if you have a Magnum Canister Filter, you can order the micron filter and some diatomaceous earth and make a DIY diatom filter.

Good advice, Sebastian.

 

[Sebastian83]

Thats a good Idea devil. I have a spare HOT magnum that I will try that out with.